(Asheville, NC) Come enjoy Mountain BizWorks’ Holiday Party featuring the Holiday Art Sale! This is your chance to buy local and support WNC artists by doing some holiday shopping and getting that unique arts gift for your loved one! Finger food, light refreshments, cash bar, music, awards, and more will happen during the Holiday Party portion of the day, but feel free to come early and do some shopping!

This event takes place at Jubilee! located at 46 Wall Street in downtown Asheville. The Holiday Sale will take place from 2-7pm, feel free to drop in at anytime! This is a great opportunity to get to know some of the participants in the Asheville Artist Alliance and to informally meet the staff at MountainBizWorks.

The Holiday Party starts at 5pm going through 7pm. During the Holiday Party Mountain Bizworks will be honoring and thanking their clients, staff, and community members. There will also be awards given out for noted businesses of 2009 and supporters. The Holiday Party is open to the public; please RSVP to naomi@mountainbizworks.org or 828.253.2834 x27 to let her know that you will be attending.

For 20 years, Mountain BizWorks has been in the hope business, the dream business, the opportunity business. Mountain BizWorks values serving all individuals who aspire to be entrepreneurs and they believe that people should be able to create a better life for themselves and their families through business ownership. MountainBizWorks believes that successful businesses create long-term social benefits and economic prosperity, particularly in under-served communities. They value the dignity and work of each individual and encourage self-sufficiency, accountability, and cooperation. Furthermore, they value being a community that bridges the gap between entrepreneurs of varying incomes, geographies andethnicities. Mountain BizWorks is an entrepreneurial, non-profit organization that operates with a double bottom line of social impact and financial viability — ensuring a permanent resource for the Western North Carolina region.

In 2008, Mountain BizWorks was able to provide its services(such as business development classes)to 988 entrepreneurs (65% were low-income, 61% were women, 22% were racial or ethnic minorities)

Those individuals created 159 businesses and expanded 310 businesses.

In turn, those businesses created 292 jobs and sustained 780 jobs.

They also made 64 loans totaling almost $1,002,000 and leveraging $1.3 Million.

The Asheville Artist Alliance is a collaboration between Mountain BizWorks, Arts2People, and the Asheville Area Arts Council. The mission of the Asheville Artist Alliance is to provide assistance and opportunities to WNC artists for the development of business skills needed to succeed in their venue. The Asheville Artist Alliance is in its fifth year of producing Artist Seminar Series workshops and events, which are designed forWNC artists to provide assistance and opportunities to develop successful business skills. For more info visit: www.ashevilleartistalliance.com